Interactive chandelier turns data streams into a light show
Most hotels have fancy chandeliers hanging in their lobbies, but a new one in Palo Alto has something a lot more apt for its location: a “participatory” light fixture. This high-tech chandelier, which has a hundred bulbs that can dim and move independently, was designed by engineers from the IDEO Digital Shop. It’s been basing its light shows for the past month on math equations and noise functions, but since it’s not your run-of-the-mill lighting, it works in many different ways — like visualizing data streams from online sources such as social media. For instance, it can come to life when someone mentions the hotel on Twitter or Facebook, or move in a way that mirrors the weather in the area according to info from the internet. It can also light up in step with someone moving up or down the stairs and match the level of activity at the hotel bar. You can see this chandelier in person in The Epiphany, but if going to Palo Alto is not quite possible, you can watch it flicker and undulate into life after the break.
(PS: We’d really like to see this chandelier in the same room as this interactive floor.)
Filed under: Misc
Via: Wired
Source: IDEO
Nexus Line Replaced by Silver Line?! LG G3 Spotted! – ManDroid Quickie
Hello Android friends. Time for some quick Android news from yours truly. Is the Nexus line being replaced by the Silver line? It is looking like it, and I am sure you guys have some mixed feelings about it. The LG G3 was also spotted in the wild, so it shouldn’t be long now before we have a new flagship to go with the other flagships. Enjoy the show!
News Topics
Nexus line getting replaced by the Silver line
HTC M8 Ace plastic
Google Play Edition Galaxy S5 almost here
LG G3 spotted
//<![CDATA[
ord = window.ord || Math.floor(Math.random()*1E16);
document.write('’);
//]]>
Lunecase harvests excess iPhone energy to light up LED notifications
iPhone cases are a dime a dozen, but the creators of Lunecase claim their masterpiece can do something special. While it looks just like any other case on the surface, Lunecase can apparently harness the electromagnetic energy the iPhone emits and use it to light up its LED call or message indicators. It’s not even connected to the phone via wires or any other means — if what its Kickstarter page says is true, it’ll work as soon as you snap it on. Sound familiar? That’s because Lunecase’s creators, Ukrainian company Concepter, showed it off at CES 2014, albeit in a different form. The prototype presented during the event looked a lot different from the current offering, but at least it worked just as advertised. If this sounds more useful than a case that can track your blood pressure, you can get one for the iPhone 5, 5s and 5c from its Kickstarter page for a minimum pledge of $35. Just note that you’ll have to make do without its icon-like indicators until it ships, which the company aims to do sometime in August.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Apple
New York City is cleaning its ancient Egyptian monument with lasers
A 69-foot, 3,500-year old granite obelisk has stood in New York City’s Central Park for 130 years, and it’s never, ever, been cleaned. The ancient pillar is deceptively fragile, and conservationists have been hesitant simply to hose it down. The solution? Blast it with lasers, of course. After careful testing, the Central Park Conservancy determined that a gentle bath of infrared lasers is both the most sensitive and environmentally friendly cleaning method available. The non-profit organization plans to slowly vaporize the monument’s modest dust collection over the next several months. Project planners have also uncovered several particularly fragile areas on the obelisk’s surface, which will be patched up with granite adhesives. Looking forward to seeing NYC’s oldest landmark at its best? You’ll have to wait until fall: the restoration is going to take awhile.
[Image credit: Cal Vornberger / Alamy]
Filed under: Misc
Via: Daily Mail, Gizmodo
Gibson has crammed a digital recorder inside a guitar cable
When I was an aspiring musician a few years back, I’d always forget new guitar licks that would arise from just messing around at rehearsals. Well, Gibson is looking to remedy that, and has partnered up with Tascam to do so. The result is the Memory Cable: a 1/4-inch instrument cable for guitar, bass, synths, drum machines and keyboards with a built-in audio recorder. Capable of capturing up to 13 hours of tunes, the accessory tracks to a micro SD card in CD-quality 44.1kHz/16-bit resolution which can be easily uploaded to recording software — should the need arise. Uncrate reports that the add-on will be priced at $100 when it arrives in the US on May 15th. This rate includes the 16-foot cable with a 4GB micro SD card, but we’re not seeing any official word from Gibson just yet. Of course, you’ll be able to record your entire gig to see just how bad you messed up. So there’s that.
Filed under: Misc, Peripherals
Via: Uncrate
Source: Gibson
MIT students raise cash to give $100 in Bitcoins to every undergrad
Starting this fall, every MIT undergrad will have at least $100 worth of Bitcoins to their name, thanks to a couple of students who’ve raised half a million to do so. But, they’re not just doing it so their schoolmates can eat something other than ramen — this is actually an official project by the school’s Bitcoin Club, so professors and researchers from the institute can study how students spend their virtual money. This initiative, started by computer science sophomore Jeremy Rubin and MIT Bitcoin Club president Dan Elitzer, was funded by MIT alumni and people with vested interest in the currency. The two masterminds believe this move is necessary for MIT to continue being at the “forefront of emerging technologies.” Rubin even said:
Giving students access to cryptocurrencies is analogous to providing them with internet access at the dawn of the internet era.
[Image credit: George Frey/Getty Images]
The students can’t use their stash (that’s 0.2247 BTC, according to current exchange rates) to shop from Amazon, but they’re free to spend it on whatever they want. So, here are a few suggestions:
- Go to Yelp to find local businesses that accept Bitcoins and hopefully eat something better than canned goods.
- Access Square Market to buy from and support small businesses, if $100 is chump change to them.
- Get a Bitcoin debit card, so they can use their Bitcoins to pay in any establishment that accepts Mastercards.
Rubin and Elitzer are still working out how to distribute the money to 4,528 undergrads. But once they’ve accomplished that, MIT might have the biggest concentration of people with access to the cryptocurrency.
Filed under: Misc
Via: TheNextWeb
Source: MIT
Daily Roundup: a new Engadget, sex ed on VHS and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
THE NEW ENGADGET: IT’S ALL ABOUT YOU… EXCEPT WHEN IT’S ABOUT US
Like technology, Engadget is evolving. Our new Editor-in-Chief Michael Gorman and Executive Editor Christopher Trout tell you about how we plan to be your guide for this connected life.
MY VCR TAUGHT ME ABOUT SEX
Videocassette recorders were considered cutting-edge tech at one point, and for very good reason. Who doesn’t remember those Blockbuster nights? But for our Senior Editor Joseph Volpe, the VCR played a much more meaningful role: It was his self-taught introduction to sex.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TO KEEP THE FEDS OUT OF YOUR PHONE
Have you ever wondered in what scenario the police would be allowed to search what’s on your phone? Well, you’re not alone. Using two ongoing Supreme Court cases as the basis, we tell you what’s at stake in the battle for the precious info stored on that phone of yours.
NOKIA X REVIEW: WHAT HAPPENS WHEN NOKIA MAKES AN ANDROID PHONE?
With the acquisition by Microsoft now complete, it is a weird time for Nokia to be releasing an Android phone. Yet, here we are. Meet the Nokia X, a $120 device aimed at developing markets, from a manufacturer that, for a long time, devoted itself to Windows Phone. But is it enough for Microsoft to feel threatened? Find out in our review.
You also might like:
Filed under: Misc
Microsoft’s motion-sensing keyboard lets you skip the touchscreen
As convenient as touchscreens and air gesture controls can be on a PC, it’s not very comfortable to keep raising your hands just to handle basic tasks. You might not have to subject your arms to that kind of strain if Microsoft’s experimental Type-Hover-Swipe keyboard ever reaches shelves, though. The peripheral hides a grid of infrared motion sensors between the keys, letting you perform hand gestures in a more natural position. While the technology is very low-resolution (there’s just 64 pixels of data), it’s both fast and precise enough to recognize more advanced commands. Among other tricks, you can mimic a steering wheel with your hands when playing a racing game.
There’s no mention of production plans for the keyboard, and Microsoft notes that it’s not perfectly accurate in its current form. However, it’s a practical concept that could give your hands a much-needed break. Microsoft adds that the raw sensors could even be used for direct touch input, since it’s possible to deduce your exact finger position — in some situations, you might not need a touchscreen at all.
Filed under: Peripherals, Microsoft
Via: CNET
Source: Microsoft Research
GoPro’s Android app now connects to your action cam automatically
GoPro’s smartphone apps have been a useful addition to its popular action cams for quite some time, and now the Android version sees a nice update. First, and most importantly, the app now automatically connects to your camera’s WiFi signal on launch, nixing a visit to the settings menu as your first stop. Sharing is easier as well, as those captured stills and videos can now be beamed to Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and other social repositories directly from your mobile device. There’s also an updated UI for those wielding version 4.0 or later of Google’s mobile OS and the ability to have the app set the curated Photo of the Day as your wallpaper. Haven’t been alerted to version 2.4 yet? Well, jump down to the source link to nab the download now.
Filed under: Cameras, Software
Via: Android Police
Source: GoPro (Google Play)
Judges have more discretion to punish patent trolls, but they probably won’t
The US Supreme Court just gave judges a little more leverage to punish patent trolls: it defined the word “exceptional.” A provision of federal patent law hinged on the definition of the word, stating that the court could charge a lawsuit’s losing party with the winner’s attorney fees in “exceptional cases.” It sounds straightforward: if a lawsuit is obviously frivolous, the patent troll pays its victim’s costs. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court said, precedent from a previous case left the rule with “an inflexible framework onto statutory text that is inherently flexible.” In other words, it was too difficult to define exactly how exceptional a case was, making it nearly impossible to implement punitive fee-shifting.
To resolve the issue, the Supreme Court went back to the dictionary, declaring that the Patent Act provision’s use of “exceptional” should be interpreted by Webster’s definition: uncommon, rare or not ordinary. “An exceptional case,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote, “is simply one that stands out from the others.” This simplified definition will allow district judges to implement the kind of loser-pays fee-shifting found in patent reform bills like the Innovation Act. That said, most judges tend to rule on the conservative side: unless a troll’s foul-play is abundantly clear, they’re a good chance they’ll still go unpunished.
[Image credit: Shutterstock / trekandshoot]
Filed under: Misc
Via: SCOTUS Blog, Verge
Source: Supreme Court (1), (2)
AIVAnet 